Cary Fukunaga Talks About his Involvement with True Detective Season Two

By Reuben Levine | Sep 1, 2015

For some reason, the second season of True Detective feels like it ended much longer ago than it actually did. Maybe it’s because season three is already so heavily on our minds? Still, there are some pieces of the True Detective season two puzzle that have not yet been discussed. Thanks to a new interview with Variety, we can at least put one of them to bed — Cary Fukunaga’s involvement in season two.

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Cary Fukunaga’s new film, Beasts of no Nation, is on the cover of Variety. Which also means that it’s time for another round of “let’s grill Fukunaga about True Detective.” It’s Usually a fun game, but it never really goes anywhere. This time, however, is a little different. Talking about season one, Fukunaga said that he was never going to stay on for more than a single season:

"“The whole pitch was that in a true anthology, we want to sit it on a shelf, and every season we have a new feature director and make this wonderful miniseries…I was going to be the first one. And I’d be there to shepherd as much as I could the following seasons. My departure was always planned.”"

That plan never came to fruition. True Detective season two ditched the single director idea and had a rotating cast of directors, something which is normal for television series. The new directors did a fine job, though sometimes it did feel as if something was missing.

Confirming what we’ve known for some time, Fukuanaga also said that he wasn’t involved with season two at all, saying that “they didn’t need me.” Apparently he was to be utilized on a “as needed” basis. Even as exercising some of his power as Executive Producer, it’s doubtful that True Detective season two really would have been any different.

To end the piece, Fukunaga talked about the director character that can be seen in season two. It’s been getting around that the demanding director may be a play on Fukunaga, but when asked about it he said “What’s there to make of it?” and laughed. Take that for what it’s worth. And because there always has to be some sort of beef between Nic Pizzolatto and Fukunaga — real or imagined — Pizzolatto responded with a cut and paste PR quote:

"“The director character in episode 3 was absolutely not meant to represent or allude to Cary in any way. The actor (Philip Moon) was hired because I was a fan of his from ‘Deadwood,’ and he arrived with the look he had. I have the utmost respect for Cary, and I look forward to his new picture.”"

Cary Fukunaga unfortunately didn’t mention season three at all, but there’s no reason to believe that he’d be involved at this point. You can head over to Variety to check out the full piece, or pick up a copy of the magazine if you’re interested in Beasts of no Nation.

Next: Fans were down with True Detective season two's finale.

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